Rogoff (2003) argues that "Human development is a cultural process….People develop as participants in cultural communities" (p. 3). Children develop within families, and different cultures reflect differences in how they structure activity for this development. For example, middle class North American families generally would not permit children under age five to have access to knives, whereas "among the Efe of the Democratic Republic of Congo, infants routinely use machetes safely" (Wilkie, personal communication, 1989). This is but one example of how conceptualizations of "family learning" and "parenting" are culturally constructed. While many of us have "learned" this fact, we suggest that not many have really "gotten" it at an operational level, i.e., what it means in classrooms and how it affects, or should affect, teaching and learning. Therefore, this article addresses cultural constructions of family learning and the clash that can occur when teachers and researchers work with families from different global communities. The authors focus particularly on the cultural differences among families and teachers operating from different perspectives on parenting, child development, learning, and teaching. They offer this discussion after working on an action research project that implemented the Literacy for Life program based on the use of real-life literacy activity (Anderson, Purcell-Gates, Jang, & Gagne, 2010). The Literacy for Life (LFL) program, designed by educational researchers at the University of British Columbia and implemented by six graduate students, provides a context for considering the role colleges of education can play in preparing global educators to engage in partnerships with culturally diverse families in the pursuit of educational success for their children.